YouTube still swamped with 'hate preach videos' against West

International

Samyuktha

Posted By: Samyuktha

Published: Monday, November 8, 2010, 15:00 [IST]

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London, Nov 8 (ANI): Despite YouTube's claims that it had started removing hundreds of videos of the radical American-born cleric Anwar al Awlaki, the website reportedly still contains videos of him and others preaching war on Britain and the West.

Awlaki is a radical cleric based in Yemen, and has been linked to several terrorist plots against the US and the UK.

According to The Sun, the website also contains sermons by Abu Qatada, who is often described as a "truly dangerous individual" and a "key UK figure" in al-Qaeda related terror activity.

YouTube had reportedly deleted many of his clips but more were soon posted, prompting the website to say: "We'll continue to remove videos that break our rules."

Earlier, US and British officials had been pressuring the website to take down the videos, fearing that al Awlaki's internet preaching radicalises Muslims.

"Hundreds of al-Awlaki videos are currently available on YouTube, with a combined total of over 3.5 million views. In these videos, al-Awlaki preaches violence against Americans and actions back up his online message," New York Representative Anthony Weiner said in an open letter sent last week to YouTube CEO Chad Hurley.

The move had come after Roshanara Choudhry, a 21-year-old student who has been jailed for life for trying to assassinate British MP Stephen Timms in May this year, told police she had wanted to die as a martyr after watching more than 100 hours of video al-Awlaki's sermons on the internet. (ANI)